The Light in Her Eyes
by LastCorsair
Summary: Weiss gets some advice on making amends with Ruby in the wake of volume 6. One-shot of White Rose.


Weiss sighed as she stepped out the back door of the Cotta-Arc household. Too much of too many edgy people inside right now for her. And far too much of one person in particular.

"You look like a young lady with a lot on her mind." The voice startled her until she realized it was Maria, once again sitting in the wooden chair where she'd been most of the day.

"You could say that again," Weiss muttered, slumping down against the wall. "Everyone's on edge, and it, it's just hard to think in there right now."

"Mm, that's why I'm out here. Everyone tense, everything up in the air and nobody knows what's going in. Mind you," Maria jabbed a finger at Weiss, "that was not an invitation to unload your troubles on me, young lady. I've got my own to deal with, thank you very much." As if to demonstrate Maria's point, one of her prosthetic eyes took that moment to open and close its shutters spasmodically, then spin in a circle until she'd given it a couple of hard whacks. "Such as keeping a team of young Huntsmen who've somehow stumbled into the job of saving the world from getting themselves killed too fast. If the world's going to end, well, to be perfectly honest, I'd rather it not do so until I'm dead. Preferably from natural causes, at an age so staggeringly vast prestigious medical institutions are fighting over my corpse to figure out how I lived so long."

Weiss couldn't help herself; she laughed at the idea of doctors doing battle over crotchety old Maria's corpse. "I wonder how long it would take them to figure out you were just too stubborn to die," she said, setting her and Maria laughing.

"Now," Maria said, sticking a hand out to one side, "I don't make a habit of this, but you might as well tell me what's troubling you. You strike me as the overly serious type in any case, but I think something in particular's got you sitting out here with me, instead of out there with your friends."

Weiss turned her head away from Maria, not wanting the old woman to see her face. "It's personal and rather complicated. I don't want to trouble you with it."

"Ah, romantic trouble then." Weiss turned her head back to scowl at Maria just in time to see a fruit drop into the hand she'd out stuck earlier. Maria picked up a knife and started peeling the fruit. "Oh, don't be surprised. Complicated and personal and not wanting to talk about it usually means an affair of the heart of some sort or another. Now, out with it. What did you do?"

Weiss' head hung low. "It doesn't matter anyway," she whispered. "She doesn't want anything to do with me anymore."

"And you're having trouble accepting it."

Rage bubbled Weiss's belly, and she fought it down, trying to keep her Semblance from calling something forth. "And just what would you know about romance, you lonely old hag?"

Maria's mouth burst open, the cackling laughter that sprang forth flaying Weiss' wounded pride to the bone. "Ah, there we are! And yes, I may be lonely and old now, but it wasn't always that way. Once upon a time, there was a young man who had my attention. And I thought I had his. But that changed."

"What happened?"

Maria leaned forward, the shutters on her prosthetic eyes opening and closing. "What do you think?"

Weiss winced, ashamed of herself. "Sorry."

"Oh, don't be," Maria said, shaking her head. "I was blinded by love, or at least lust, which often amounts to the same thing for a lot of people. After I lost my eyes, I went back to what was supposed to be our home. It turned out he was more in love with being the Grim Reaper's secret lover than he was with Maria Calavera. But that's enough about my old wounds. Now, who's the young lady in question? It's not that crazy girl with the hammer, is it? Because I'm pretty sure she's attached to that other girl, what's her name, Ren?"

Weiss couldn't help herself, she burst out laughing. "Ren, Ren's a guy," she managed to choke out between laughs.

Maria's head tilted to one side. "Are you sure? Ever seen her naked?"

"Yes. Or shirtless at least."

"Hmm. Well, they've got surgery for that I suppose, or at least that's what I hear. Then what about Yang? Although I think her and Blake are kind of attached to each other, if not quite in that fashion."

"I'm not so sure." Memories of a few times from Beacon that Weiss had caught Yang and Blake sitting just a little too close to each other crossed Weiss's mind. Then she shook her head. "No, it's not either one of the-hey! I did _not_ want to talk about this!"

"Nope, you wanted to talk to someone, have them tell you it's not your fault, that it's all the other person's fault. Now," Maria slid down from her chair, then wandered over to sit on the porch facing Weiss, "tell me what happened between you and Ruby."

"I said…" Weiss's voice trailed off. "I was teammates with Yang and Ruby and Blake at Beacon. That, that's where, okay, yes, Ruby and I started… seeing each other."

"Dating."

Weiss grimaced. "Fine. Dating. After the Fall of Beacon, my father forced me to come back to Atlas. I was stuck there for a while, but then I escaped and ended up in Mistral. Where I met Ruby again."

"And tried to pick up where you left off."

Weiss nodded, the anger from that night coming back to her. "Ruby said it was over, that she-" The white-haired girl stopped, not wanting to go any further.

"And here we are, the part you don't want to talk about. The part that is your fault, no matter how much you don't want to admit it. Tell me." Maria reached out and poked Weiss with her walking stick.

"No."

Maria jabbed Weiss with her walking stick again. "Listen. You don't get to be my age without learning a thing or three, and one thing I do know is that when something's eating you up this bad, you've got to talk about it. Or it's going to eat you up, and, eventually, send someone who throws themselves into danger as much as, oh, say, a Huntress does, to an early grave. Probably with a lot of other bodies involved."

"I can look after myself, thank you!" Weiss stood and stomped inside the house. "Good night!"

Later that night, Weiss was staring up at the ceiling overhead, hours after the others had fallen asleep. Sighing, she rolled to sleep on her other side for what seemed to be the millionth time that night. Her mind kept drifting back to that night in Mistral…

* * *

 _Ruby jumped as hands slid around her waist from behind wrapping themselves around her. "You've been avoiding me," a voice whispered in her ear. "As much as I missed everyone else, I missed you the most."_

 _She ignored the shiver that ran down her spine and suppressed the urge to grab onto those arms and lean back. Instead, Ruby batted the arms away, taking a few steps forward and turning around. "Weiss, no."_

 _Weiss looked at Ruby, her face puzzled. Since they'd been together, Ruby had never pulled away from her, not before. More often than not, Ruby had been the one coming to her, and it had been Weiss saying it wasn't a good time, that they had to study or train or some other reason. "Ruby, I-"_

" _I mean it, Weiss." Ruby stood there with her arms crossed and her head down, not wanting to look at Weiss right now. "Things can't be like they were between us again. I just can't take it anymore. I'm sorry."_

 _In a blur, Ruby was gone, leaving Weiss standing there, staring heartbroken at the drift of rose petals where she'd been standing._

* * *

"You were right."

"Hmm? About what?" Maria turned her head toward Weiss. "Right about what?"

"It is my fault we broke up," Weiss said with a sigh. "I deserved to get dumped," she admitted, leaning on the armrest and staring out the window of their stolen airship.

Maria blinked. "And you want to have this conversation now?"

"Sorry, I just… I just needed to say it out loud."

Maria chuckled and turned back toward the controls. "As I said, missy, sometimes admitting it to yourself is the hardest part. Now, what'd you do? Call it morbid curiosity."

"When we were at Beacon, I… I made her keep our relationship a secret. Even from our teammates. And when we got together, it, it was always on my terms, when I thought it was a good time."

"Ah, you treated her like she was your dirty little secret, made sure everything was the way _you_ wanted it." Maria waggled a finger at Weiss. "One thing I know is that relationships like that usually only last until the person taking orders gets fed up. And then," she snapped her fingers, "poof. Gone in the wind."

"So there's no hope at all?" Weiss said, a heavy weight settling in her chest. "I've lost everything else, I thought I could still have her."

"Are you settling for what you think you can still have?"

"No!" Weiss' hand slapped down on the armrest. "Keeping things quiet, it only had to be for a while, until I was free of my father. I thought, I thought she knew that."

"Did you tell her that?"

"Um," Weiss grimaced. "Not in those words, but I thought she understood that's how it had to be," she answered softly.

"Something like that, you shouldn't have assumed. You should have told her outright, at the beginning. It's called setting ground rules. That was my mistake, too." Now it was Maria's turn to get quiet.

"Aren't we a pair?" Weiss said with a dry chuckle.

"Difference being, you may still have a chance to win her back, but I what you've got to do is something I think you're not going to like," Maria said, the shutters on one eye closing in what Weiss guessed was intended to be a wink. "You're going to have to explain yourself and apologize."

"If she'll listen," Weiss said, turning to look out the window again.

"Oh come on, Where's that Huntress' spirit?" Maria leaned over and punched Weiss in the arm. "And besides, it's going to bother you forever if you don't make things right between the two of you. Just don't try and do it now. We're all a little busy at the moment."

* * *

"Hey, don't shove me!"

Upon landing in Atlas, they'd found themselves surrounded by the Atlas military. Only a few code words from Qrow and the fact that Weiss was, well, Weiss _Schnee_ , had kept them from being tossed in a cell. Instead, they'd found themselves very politely but firmly 'escorted' to the building they now stood in.

Overall, the décor was utilitarian, if a bit spartan. A long hallway with gray carpet led off into the distance with doors on either side. A little down the hallway there was what looked like a lounge area with chairs, a sofa and coffee table arranged around a good-sized video screen

"These are the new quarters for unmarried officers," the lieutenant in charge of their escort said, gesturing down the hallway. "No-one has been assigned here yet, so no-one will disturb you. Don't try to leave the building and don't make a mess. Wait here while we decide what to do with you."

Qrow snorted. "Hey, if you'll just let me talk to Ironwood for a minute-"

"Mister Branwen, I don't exactly have the general on speed dial." The officer's voice was flat and level. "And I know this is a new concept for you Hunstmen, but there is such a thing as a chain of command, and we are trying to reach the general. Be glad you're not waiting for him in a cell. One of us is here at the front desk if you need something."

"But-" Qrow started again, only to be elbowed by Ruby. He staggered a bit, rubbing his side. Damn, Ruby was strong for her size.

"We've got to be patient, Uncle Qrow. From what you said, Ironwood knows some of what's going on, but not everything," Ruby said, gesturing at her waist where the Relic of Knowledge still hung. "We've all had a very long day, and I for one could use some sleep." Ruby started down the hallway, heading past the lounge area.

Weiss bit her lip in indecision. Ruby had been exhausted the whole trip back. Using the power of her silver eyes must really have taken it out of her. But more than that, that sparkle in her eyes that had first drawn Weiss to her was missing. Weiss didn't know if she was the reason it was missing or not, but if nothing else, she had to make amends with Ruby. _Now or never, before I lose my nerve,_ she said to herself. Weiss marched down the hallway to where Ruby was slumped against a wall, rubbing her eyes. Grabbing Ruby's arm, she pushed her into one of the rooms, closing the door behind them.

"Weiss, what-? No, I told you this wasn't going to happen again." Ruby dropped down hard on the edge of the bed, staring down at her boots.

"It, it's not what you think, Ruby." Weiss took a deep breath. "Ruby, I'm sorry. Before, at Beacon, I was too controlling. I didn't treat you right, and I didn't explain things I should have.

"The reason I wanted to keep things a secret between us was my father. He, he hates same-sex relationships, thinks they should be against the law, things like that. So when I fell for you, I, I tried to have it both ways. I tried to have his money while having you with me, and I did it in a completely terrible way. Making you hide everything, even from your own sister, it, it wasn't right, and I'm truly sorry. That's what I needed to say. I love you, Ruby, but you deserve better than the way I treated you." Weiss turned and reached for the door panel.

"Wait." The single syllable spoke of a weariness down to the soul, and Weiss cursed herself for how it made her heart leap for joy. "If, if you had it to do all over again, would you do it differently?"

"Yes." Weiss' soft answer was an anguished prayer as her head leaned forward to rest against the door.

"How?"

"I, I would have explained about my father, about why we had to keep it private. And, and we probably could have told your sister and Blake? Maybe even Team JNPR? Others we could trust?" A shiver of panic was starting to run down Weiss's spine; she'd expected to say her apology and leave, not be subject to interrogation.

"It kinda would have made it easier if at least Yang and Blake had been in on it. I mean, we probably could have just asked them and they would have let us have the room to ourselves sometimes. Don't you think?" Ruby's voice was steadier now, and Weiss wanted nothing more than to wrap Ruby in her arms and keep her safe until the weariness went away.

Instead, Weiss turned to face Ruby, her back resting against the door. "Or at least we could have avoided a few awkward moments," Weiss murmured, one corner of her mouth creeping up in a half-smile.

"Yeah," was Ruby's answer, a heat rising in her cheeks. "Some of those were kind of funny, though."

"I wish..." Weiss stopped, trying to make sure her words matched her thoughts as best she could. "I wish I'd had the courage then to avoid them completely."

"Weiss." Ruby lifted her head to look at Weiss, a smile on her face, silver eyes shining in the moonlight. "We would have just ended up with different awkward moments. That's part of, well, being together."

Silence descended upon them as they sat there in the moonlight, neither one of them looking directly at the other. Then Ruby spoke. "If, if we were going to get back together, there'd have to be new rules."

"Completely new rules. Ruby rules, not Weiss rules," Weiss said, her head jerking up and down in agreement.

"No." Weiss blinked in surprise as Ruby continued. "Ruby _and_ Weiss rules, rules we work out together. Like, like I don't want to hide us anymore."

"First thing, we tell everyone. And about us being together at Beacon, too. And, um," Weiss racked her brain, searching for things about their time at Beacon that had annoyed Ruby, "I guess it would be okay for you to kiss or hug me in public, at least sometimes." There, that was a good one. Ruby was very physically affectionate. Not being able to kiss Weiss, where people might see, had been something of a sore point.

"And I'd expect you to kiss me in front of people too, sometimes." Ruby had that 'no arguing' look on her face and Weiss couldn't help but smile. "Sometimes, when I feel like it," the white-haired girl said, smiling.

"Okay," Ruby said with a grin. "Now come lie down."

"Um..." That was most _definitely_ not something Weiss had expected when she'd dragged Ruby into the room.

"Not _that,"_ Ruby laughed, and Weiss sagged with relief. "At least not tonight, I'm way too tired. But I know you, and I'll bet you're all knotted up and tense. Not sleeping much, either. I just, I would literally have killed back at Beacon to be able to sleep next to you, when we weren't passed out after a mission. And in the morning, I'll give you one of my awesome massages. Please?"

At the last, Ruby deployed the ultimate weapon: Puppy-dog eyes. No force on Remnant could withstand Ruby's puppy-dog eyes. With a sigh, Weiss surrendered to her own exhaustion, kicked off her shoes, and laid down on the bed, heedless of the fact that she was still fully dressed.

There was one thump, and then another, a rustle of cloth, and then Ruby was lying next to Weiss, silver eyes staring into Weiss's pale blue. "Hey," Ruby said, "come here often?"

"As often as you want me to," Weiss answered, feeling bold enough to be a little playful.

"Roll over."

Weiss blinked. "Why?"

"Because I want to be the big spoon."

Weiss complied, not wanting to argue and risk whatever they'd managed to piece back together. Ruby snuggled up to her, wrapping her arms around Weiss. "Hey, Weiss?"

"Mm-hmm?"

"It always bothered me, that everyone called you the ice queen. You were always so warm to me."

"That means more to me than you can imagine, Ruby."

* * *

The next morning, Blake and Yang were playing chess while Qrow and Maria fixed breakfast in the lounge area's kitchenette. Well, they were supposed to be fixing breakfast. What they ended up doing was more arguing than actual cooking.

"Listen, you bird-brain, I don't care if you like Tabasco in _your_ eggs, not everyone does! Don't dump it into the pan!" Maria yelled, trying to whack Qrow with her cane and failing.

"Bird brain, huh? If that's the best you can do, you might see if they can fit you with a prosthetic brain when they get around to fixing your eyes!"

"Those two are getting along really well," Blake said as she studied the chess board. It had always been one of her favorite games, and she was glad she'd convinced Yang to learn it too. Her partner wasn't the deepest thinker when it came to strategy, but Yang had an unpredictable streak that Blake sometimes found it hard to account for.

"Yeah, I guess." Yang's attention wasn't really on the game; instead, she was staring at the door to the room Weiss had dragged Ruby into the night before. "They still haven't come out."

"Ruby was probably exhausted from using her silver eyes on something that big," Blake said. "And I heard them talking, too. Maybe they're talking again."

"Talking?" Yang perked right back up, her eyes focused on Blake. "What about?"

"Dunno, I couldn't make it out," Blake said, moving her bishop.

"What, those adorable kitty-cat ears don't come with really good hearing? Blake, I'm disappointed." Yang stood, looked down at the move Blake had made, and moved one of her knights before heading down the hallway. "I'm gonna go check on them."

Yang started to knock on the door, but before she could, a noise caught her attention. She leaned over, pressing her ear up against the door. Then she stood back up, her face as red as her eyes when her aura was active, and marched back over to the game and sat down. "I, um, I think we need to leave them alone for a while. Maybe until they decide to come out on their own."

"Something wrong, Yang?" Qrow asked, stirring the (mercifully Tabasco-free) scrambled eggs.

"I'll say!" Nora crowed. "There's no pancakes!" Ren just shook his head.

"Hey, I've only got so much room to cook here. Pancakes are coming, I promise." Qrow looked over at the lounge area. "You didn't answer my question, kiddo."

"Um…." Yang's brain froze. She didn't want to get Ruby in trouble, but she had to say something. "Ruby and Weiss are enjoying some private time. We really need to leave them alone, honest."

"Come again, Yang?" Now Qrow was puzzled. Yang normally wasn't evasive unless she was pulling a prank. And he was fairly sure she hadn't had the time or energy to plan one of those since they'd gotten to Atlas.

"Just, just knock first, okay? Blake, it's your move." Yang looked at the door down the hallway and shook her head.

Blake sighed, then tipped over her king. "You've got me in two moves no matter what I do. You win, Yang."

"Excuse me." Winter stood there, her hands behind her back. "General Ironwood sends his regrets, but administrative manners delay his arrival. He sent me ahead to make sure your needs were being met." She scanned the lounge, noting one glaring absence. "Where is my sister?"

"Busy," Yang said.

"I don't care what she's doing, I asked where she was."

Yang pointed, but added, "Trust me, you want to knock first."

Winter snorted as she opened the door. "And why would I-Weiss, what are you doing?" A decidedly angry shriek erupted from within the room, and the door slammed shut in Winter's face, a black glyph rotating in the air. "Was she—is she?" Winter shook herself, fighting to recover her composure. "And who is that in there with my sister?"

"My sister, Ruby," Yang said with a wry grin on her face. "Told ya to knock first, didn't I?"

Qrow frowned, scraping the scrambled eggs into a bowl and starting to pour pancake batter. "Are they doing what I think they're doing, Yang? Seems to me that since I'm you and Ruby's uncle, I need to be aware of things like that."

"It was news to me too, Qrow. Actually, hold on." Yang pulled out her scroll, tapping out a message. "There that should bring them."

It wasn't long before Ruby and Weiss emerged, both obviously quickly dressed and rather disheveled. "Uh, hey, everyone. Hi, Winter," Ruby said, waving weakly.

Winter glared at her sister from where she stood. "Weiss, explain yourself at once."

Weiss stood up straight and looked her sister in the eye. "Ruby and I were, were dating at Beacon but kept it a secret at my insistence because of my father. When we again in Mistral, Ruby broke things off, not without good reason. Last night, I tried to apologize for making Ruby keep our relationship a secret. Now we're starting over, on a different footing."

Stunned silence spread across the room. "Wait, you didn't even tell me, Ruby?" Yang yelped.

"My fault," Weiss said before Ruby could answer.

"But why?" Jaune asked. "What's Weiss' dad got to do with the two of you dating?"

"Our father has a remarkable hatred of same-sex relationships, almost as much as he hates Faunus," Winter said softly. "There's no telling how angry he would have been to learn Weiss was dating Ruby. At the very least, he would have withdrawn Weiss from Beacon, probably done his best to get Ruby thrown out as well."

Qrow laughed. "Wouldn't have worked. Ozpin hated being strong-armed." Oscar just nodded his agreement.

Weiss sighed, wrapping an arm around Ruby. "I'm very sorry for hiding things from you, making Ruby hide them too. I just, I just wasn't brave enough then to face my father. But I'm brave enough now, I think." Weiss cupped Ruby's cheek in on hand, thumb tracing her girlfriend's jawline, resisting the urge to wipe away the tear she saw there and risk losing the light she saw there once more. "Now I have something priceless to fight for."

And with that, she kissed Ruby, doing her best to ignore the wolf-whistles and assorted comments.


End file.
